Prostitutes’ zone plan step nearer

Government plans exploring ‘tolerance zones’ to shift prostitution from neighbourhoods and on to industrial estates will be considered in Reading.

The Government is consulting on an overhaul of prostitution laws and among the schemes up for discussion are zones where on-street prostitution would be tolerated.

The council has said it will have a lot to

contribute to the proposals because of the town’s rapid rise in prostitution, particularly around Oxford Road – and that Reading should be one of the tolerance zone pilot schemes.

Also being considered are moves to decriminalise small brothels alongside cracking down on those with “legitimate fronts” such as massage parlours, as well as measures to help sex workers break away from drug addictions.

Home Secretary David Blunkett said he wasn’t keen on tolerance zones but was not against

individual councils having the discretion to set them up to help clean up residential areas.

Battle ward councillor Tony Jones has

previously called for a zone to be set up, possibly around Loverock Road, to combat the problems on Oxford Road.

Cllr Viki Lloyd, head of community action for the borough, was also not convinced about tolerance zones but believed police and the council would look at the Government’s proposals.

She said: “We are going to have a lot to say on the consultation because of our experiences in Reading.

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“It is an issue the current laws prevent us from being effective on because it constrains us and I am pleased the Government is reviewing it.

“I remain to be convinced about tolerance zones but I want to hear the arguments from the

professionals, local residents and business about

what they think.”

On-street prostitution to pay for crack cocaine and heroin has grown in West Reading over the past three years and police estimate there are now 69 women who sell sex around Oxford Road.

Cllr Jones said he would be calling on Reading’s Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership – made up of representatives from council and police – to bid to the Government to be a pilot for

tolerance zones.

“We have a problem that needs to be tackled and if we want to reclaim our streets we can’t cross our fingers and hope it will go away,” he said.

“I believe tolerance zones are an idea that, in a modern town like Reading, we are grown up enough to take on without over-reacting.”

Mr Blunkett was cautious about tolerance zones as he unveiled the consultation document on Friday.

He said while there was evidence tolerance zones led to “organised deprivation and organised squalor”, he was prepared to give local councils the discretion to operate such projects.

“While I am sympathetic to local authorities

having discretion, I am less sympathetic to them actually setting them up,” he said.

“My instincts are that zones are not as

productive as registration and health checks.”

Association of Chief Police Officers spokesman Tim Brain warned such schemes and licensing should be treated with caution.

“Ideas such as so-called ‘zones of toleration’ or the licensing of off-street sex establishments are superficially attractive, but closer study of schemes in other parts of the world reveal that

significant problems remain and there are, if any, few truly successful examples.”

Of the 69 women who work the Oxford Road area, 50 were believed to do so regularly with 15 on the street at any one time, according to police figures. Sixteen women have been charged with a total of 31 offences linked to prostitution since October 2002.